In the Eyes of the Beholder
by jhoom
Summary: Dean hates witches. There has never been a not terribly annoying case he's had to work involving witches. They are the worst. / Where Cas gets hit with a spell that makes everyone super attracted to him. Everyone except Dean.
**AN:** This whole story exists because I need to practice brevity. This could probably be a couple thousand words but my goal is to get it done in under 1000. I'll settle for under 1200 and call it a success. My one shots need to stop turning into multi-chapter fics.

(omg this is the opposite of the problem I had as a kid - my elementary school teachers could *not* get me to write more than a paragraph for a story. When I think about that it's really just ridiculously funny because I would probably be perfectly happy just writing for a living.)

* * *

Dean hates witches. There has never been a not terribly annoying case he's had to work involving witches. They are the _worst_.

They've cornered the last of the witches - one on three by now, so it should be pretty easy. She manages to get off a spell, casting it blindly in the direction of Cas, before Sam gets her. When the dust settles, Cas is standing in the middle of the room, coughing slightly.

Trying not to sound too worried, Dean looks for anything amiss with the ex-angel. "Did it do anything?" Fingers crossed she couldn't get it done in time and whatever it was just fizzles out before anything happens.

Cas takes a moment to inspect himself. "I don't feel any different."

Wiping the blood off his blade, Sam gives him a once over. "It might be slow acting. We'll have to keep an eye on it."

Things seem to go fine from there. Nothing strange at dinner and they settle into their motel room without issue. No one's more relieved that things are fine than Dean, but he hopefully manages not to look too invested in the potential problem. Luckily (sorta?) it's his turn to sleep on the shitty motel couch, so it gives him something to complain about without having to fuss too much over Cas.

The boys wake up, do a quick inventory before starting to pack up. They can probably reach the bunker by dusk if they get a move on.

When Cas goes out to the car, Sam reaches over and pulls at Dean's sleeve. "Hey, is it just me or does Cas look better than usual today?"

Sneaking a glimpse out the window, Dean frowns before answering with a confused, "... No?" Not that Cas doesn't look good, he amends to himself. Just not better than he normally does.

"Hmm," is all Sam says.

The brothers ignore it until they stop for lunch later that day. Sam's leg keeps twitching under the table and he looks like he's sweating. If _he'd_ been the one the witch had whammied, Dean might be concerned. As is, he thinks Sam's just restless or maybe needs to get laid or something.

Ugh, now he's thinking about his brother getting laid. Moving on.

The waitress is cute, so Dean flirts shamelessly with her. They're not staying longer than their meal, but it's still fun and passes the time. But she is totally not into it. She barely pays attention to him or Sam as they order, downright _fawning_ over Cas.

 _Like, good for Cas, I guess. But seriously? Who can resist the Winchester charm?_

He lays it on extra thick when she comes back with their drinks, enough that Cas looks exasperated with him, but still nothing. Strangely, Sam doesn't kick him over the table for being so damn obvious like he usually does. Instead, he keeps trying to hold Cas' attention. Which... weird, right?

Cas catches his eye and they both share a confused look. Something is going on.

When they stop for dinner a few hours later (after a fucking million miles of Sam talking Cas' ears off about boring shit like tomes and dead languages), the bartender nearly trips over himself trying to get to them. Wait, no, to get to Cas. The guy is _gushing_ as he blatantly (and rather aggressively) flirts with Cas.

Now, Cas is a decent looking dude. Dean is comfortable enough with himself that he can admit to this. Out loud even (if he had to). But two interested parties in one day? That's like a new record.

Sam is now standing ramrod straight (Dean hates when he does that, it makes him _that_ much taller) and is glaring at the bartender as he orders drinks for them. Well, by "them" he apparently means for himself and Cas. He seems to have completely forgotten his brother is there.

Dean has to physically pull Sam away from his pissing match with the bartender and herd him towards an empty table.

Cas looks around warily before excusing himself to the restroom.

"Dude, what the actual fuck?"

Sam doesn't respond for a minute, eyes intently watching as Cas disappears around a corner. Once the line of sight is broken, he seems confused and finally looks at Dean. "Huh?"

"What the hell is going on with you?"

Embarrassed, Sam buries his face in his hands. "I don't have a fucking clue," he whines. "I just... it's _Cas_. I haven't been able to stop thinking about him all day."

 _Join the club,_ Dean thinks with an eye roll. He says, "Mind explaining what the hell that means to the rest of the class?"

"Oh god," Sam's head snaps up as he looks to Dean with something like panic. "I think the witch put an attraction spell on him or something."

"... What?"

He listens to Sam's hurried explanation of what he's been feeling all day. Reminds Dean of the waitress earlier and the bartender. And, well, now that he's thinking about it... Cas has been turning a lot of heads today. There was the woman at the motel when they checked out. The couple at the gas station after lunch. And Cas is now walking back to their table and pretty much everyone eyeing him in a predatory sort of way.

" _Fuck._ "

Cas immediately sees their distress. "What's wrong?"

"Sam thinks the witch hit you with some sort of love spell that makes everyone wanna bang you."

His eyes narrow as he looks back and forth between the two brothers. "Everyone...?"

Dean wishes he could take a picture of how bright red Sam turns as he looks pretty much anywhere he can but directly at Cas. Or tries to - his eyes keep darting to take a peek seemingly against his will. It's _hilarious_ now that he knows what's going on.

But Dean needs to focus on the problem at hand. "Looks like it," he says, trying not to snigger at his brother's expense.

"... Even you, Dean?"

His head whips around to look at Cas so fast he's pretty sure it's gonna hurt later. "No!" he automatically answers. He takes a breath to calm himself down. Actually thinks about it. Does he want to jump Cas' bones right now? Internally, he shrugs. He wouldn't say no, but he's not keyed up like everyone else around them. "I must be immune or something." And he smiles, because _thank fucking god_ it seems to be actually be true.

Cas' face seems to fall a bit at that, just for a second, before he's all business again. "We should leave and try to sort this out."

They find the nearest motel and check in. They end up needing to get a second room because Sam seriously _cannot_ focus on anything if he's in the same room as Cas. Banishing him to work on his own, Cas and Dean start researching.

It's actually a bit funny. Cas is the one who's got the attraction mojo radiating off of him (apparently), but _he's_ the one who keeps sighing wistfully and looking at Dean way too often for it to be normal. Having enough, Dean nearly slams shut his laptop. "Cas, buddy, you gotta stop."

Cas has the good graces to look slightly abashed. He might even be blushing. "Sorry."

Rubbing his hand over his face, Dean sighs. This sucks. He wants to help Cas out because this whole thing is clearly making the guy uncomfortable. He wants to help Sam out because the last thing he wants to think about is his brother trying to jump his best friend. And he wants to help himself out by getting people off the topic of "strange attractions to Cas." That is a can of worms he does _not_ want opened.

Before he can say anything, he gets a call from Sam. "Sammy? Yeah... Uh huh... Okay, yeah, I'll keep him in here til then... Sounds good." Cas looks at him expectantly. "Looks like it's a 24 hour type deal. We got about five hours left, then it should wear off. Sam's off to pick up some food, you and I'll stay put."

"Oh. I see."

Dean's about to head over to the TV when Cas does another dramatic sigh. "Oh my god, Cas, _what_? How is this a bad thing?"

For a minute it looks like he's not going to answer. Dean's about to let the whole thing drop (if he doesn't wanna talk about it, that's Cas' problem) when Cas finally says, "It's just... frustrating. That even when there's magic involved, you still don't have any interest in me."

His brain short circuits for a second. "Wanna lay that on me again?"

"Just... never mind. Let's find a movie to watch-"

But no, this seems really important. Dean can't let it go that easily. "You think I'm not attracted to you?"

Avoiding eye contact, Cas nearly snaps at him, "You clearly are not, Dean. You are the only one who seems unaffected by the spell-"

"You _want_ me to be attracted to you?"

Cas huffs. "Forget it."

Dean licks his lips. This could go either way right now and he's trying to make the right decision. "Hey, uh... Do you know what Sam said to me earlier? About how the spell feels?" Cas shakes his head, still not looking at him. "He says he can't stop looking at you. And that he's constantly struggling from jumping forward and trying to kiss you. And-"

"Dean, _please_ -"

"What I'm saying, Cas, is... Ugh..." he paces a bit. He hates saying this shit out loud, but he knows at least this time, he has to. "The way this spell makes people feel about you? Yeah, kinda already feel that. Like, all the time. So when I woke up this morning, I didn't notice you were under a spell because it was just a regular morning for me."

He finally has Cas' attention. Both of those blue eyes are trained on him, piercing stare that still feels like it can see right to his soul. And then Cas is on his feet, rushing over to him. Even though he knows it's about to happen, the kiss still manages to take Dean's breath away.

"How long?" Cas asks, moving from his lips to his neck.

"Uh," he laughs a bit. "Since before Purgatory for sure, I just... don't know when exactly."

They're kissing again and Dean forgets to feel embarrassed. Because this? This is pretty fucking awesome.

 _So_ , he later admits to himself when he's curled up with Cas under a blanket, _maybe witches aren't always that bad_.

* * *

 **AN:** 1775 words goddamnit I failed


End file.
